diff --git a/swift/account/server.py b/swift/account/server.py
index 3819924c53..757fa6d904 100644
--- a/swift/account/server.py
+++ b/swift/account/server.py
@@ -118,10 +118,12 @@ class AccountController(object):
                                   request=req)
         if self.mount_check and not check_mount(self.root, drive):
             return HTTPInsufficientStorage(drive=drive, request=req)
-        broker = self._get_account_broker(drive, part, account)
         if container:   # put account container
+            pending_timeout = None
             if 'x-trans-id' in req.headers:
-                broker.pending_timeout = 3
+                pending_timeout = 3
+            broker = self._get_account_broker(drive, part, account,
+                                              pending_timeout=pending_timeout)
             if account.startswith(self.auto_create_account_prefix) and \
                     not os.path.exists(broker.db_file):
                 try:
@@ -142,6 +144,7 @@ class AccountController(object):
             else:
                 return HTTPCreated(request=req)
         else:   # put account
+            broker = self._get_account_broker(drive, part, account)
             timestamp = normalize_timestamp(req.headers['x-timestamp'])
             if not os.path.exists(broker.db_file):
                 try:
@@ -189,8 +192,8 @@ class AccountController(object):
         if self.mount_check and not check_mount(self.root, drive):
             return HTTPInsufficientStorage(drive=drive, request=req)
         broker = self._get_account_broker(drive, part, account,
+                                          pending_timeout=0.1,
                                           stale_reads_ok=True)
-        broker.pending_timeout = 0.1
         if broker.is_deleted():
             return self._deleted_response(broker, req, HTTPNotFound)
         info = broker.get_info()
@@ -238,8 +241,8 @@ class AccountController(object):
         if self.mount_check and not check_mount(self.root, drive):
             return HTTPInsufficientStorage(drive=drive, request=req)
         broker = self._get_account_broker(drive, part, account,
+                                          pending_timeout=0.1,
                                           stale_reads_ok=True)
-        broker.pending_timeout = 0.1
         if broker.is_deleted():
             return self._deleted_response(broker, req, HTTPNotFound)
         return account_listing_response(account, req, out_content_type, broker,
diff --git a/swift/common/db.py b/swift/common/db.py
index 29674c232b..39b4f9b632 100644
--- a/swift/common/db.py
+++ b/swift/common/db.py
@@ -173,13 +173,13 @@ class DatabaseBroker(object):
     """Encapsulates working with a database."""
 
     def __init__(self, db_file, timeout=BROKER_TIMEOUT, logger=None,
-                 account=None, container=None, pending_timeout=10,
+                 account=None, container=None, pending_timeout=None,
                  stale_reads_ok=False):
         """Encapsulates working with a database."""
         self.conn = None
         self.db_file = db_file
         self.pending_file = self.db_file + '.pending'
-        self.pending_timeout = pending_timeout
+        self.pending_timeout = pending_timeout or 10
         self.stale_reads_ok = stale_reads_ok
         self.db_dir = os.path.dirname(db_file)
         self.timeout = timeout
@@ -928,8 +928,8 @@ class ContainerBroker(DatabaseBroker):
         if pending_size > PENDING_CAP:
             self._commit_puts([record])
         else:
-            with lock_parent_directory(
-                    self.pending_file, self.pending_timeout):
+            with lock_parent_directory(self.pending_file,
+                                       self.pending_timeout):
                 with open(self.pending_file, 'a+b') as fp:
                     # Colons aren't used in base64 encoding; so they are our
                     # delimiter
diff --git a/swift/container/server.py b/swift/container/server.py
index e84c0de8d3..0da4a0c4d3 100644
--- a/swift/container/server.py
+++ b/swift/container/server.py
@@ -311,8 +311,8 @@ class ContainerController(object):
         if self.mount_check and not check_mount(self.root, drive):
             return HTTPInsufficientStorage(drive=drive, request=req)
         broker = self._get_container_broker(drive, part, account, container,
+                                            pending_timeout=0.1,
                                             stale_reads_ok=True)
-        broker.pending_timeout = 0.1
         if broker.is_deleted():
             return HTTPNotFound(request=req)
         info = broker.get_info()
@@ -399,8 +399,8 @@ class ContainerController(object):
         if self.mount_check and not check_mount(self.root, drive):
             return HTTPInsufficientStorage(drive=drive, request=req)
         broker = self._get_container_broker(drive, part, account, container,
+                                            pending_timeout=0.1,
                                             stale_reads_ok=True)
-        broker.pending_timeout = 0.1
         if broker.is_deleted():
             return HTTPNotFound(request=req)
         info = broker.get_info()